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Grumpy ministers force reshuffle botch

IT MAY have been a collective lack of sleep or perhaps a symptom of the leader’s waning power, but Tony Blair’s apparently smooth post-election reshuffle turned out to be a behind-the-scenes “botch job”.

Senior Whitehall sources revealed last night that the prime minister had to tear up his carefully crafted cabinet team after ministers grumpily intervened on Friday.

Returning from election counts that had stretched into the early hours, the ministers were not all happy with the roles on offer. An angry intervention by John Prescott and a wrangle over a planned move for Ruth Kelly to the Treasury forced Blair into a hasty rethink.

And there was confusion last night over the role of Gordon Brown. Downing Street sources claimed he had been fully consulted on the reshuffle, but the chancellor’s allies said his involvement had been limited to Treasury appointments.